1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus used for recording foot, hoof and paw impressions, and it specifically relates to an apparatus used to obtain those impressions for the purpose of conveying, to a hunter or land proprietor, information regarding the presence, species, size and travel patterns of an animal or person visiting an area in which the apparatus is deployed.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the sport of hunting, attraction devices such as decoys and animal calls have long been used to lure animals to within the vicinity of stationed hunters and, thereby, increase hunters' probabilities of killing prey. Of course, a hunter can enhance his likelihood of hunting success by stationing himself within part of a hunting area that his desired prey is known to frequent. So, in addition to using attraction devices, hunters often will employ other means and techniques for gathering hunting intelligence regarding things such as particular areas that prey has visited in the past; particular timeframes during which they tend to visit those areas; and size, maturity and sex of the visiting animals. Upon learning such information, hunters can position themselves accordingly.
There are several well-established methods that a hunter can use to gather information about the presence and travel patterns of prey. One basic method is eye surveillance. By simply staking out and patiently waiting at a fixed position in the hunting area, a hunter might be presented an opportunity to observe prey that enters the area oblivious to the hunter's presence. However, while this may be the most effective technique for observing and actually hunting more elusive types of game animals, it may not be a very efficient technique to exercise either when the hunter has little known reason to expect that the desired prey will enter any particular area or when he is hunting a typically less vigilant species of game that can be effectively stalked. Therefore, information-gathering methods and devices that do not require the information gatherer to remain physically present at a location to be observed are often preferable to the human eye surveillance method.
Another basic, age-old method of obtaining hunting intelligence is to survey the land for animal tracks. Ground imbedded animal footprints, or “tracks,” necessarily indicate that, at some time, an animal walked over the ground upon which they are found. A well-established trail of tracks may further indicate that animals of the species that left the tracks repeatedly travel along that path and are, therefore, likely to do so again. That logic is further supported if a trail contains tracks that are so well defined as to appear to be new or “fresh.”
Often, hunters will prepare the ground to enable it to produce more visible tracks. This can be accomplished by, for example, raking the ground so as to expose moist soil that will be more revealing of later left foot, hoof or paw impressions than a more dried and hardened topsoil would have been. Nevertheless, despite even the best efforts to condition the ground for capturing foot impressions, weather conditions can severely limit the visibility and degrade the integrity of ground imprints. For example, if the ground is highly saturated from rainfall or melted snow, even recently made animal tracks may be indiscernible. That is especially true of the shallow tracks of lightweight animals, but even deeply embedded tracks that are otherwise highly discernable can become quickly eroded by precipitation. Furthermore, in areas where the ground surface is covered by grass, brush or foliage, many animals' tracks may not be detectable to the naked eye even in the best of weather conditions. Thus, for a variety of reasons, actively searching for tracks is not always a viable means for gathering hunting intelligence.
Another rudimentary method used by hunters to determine whether an animal has visited a location is to erect an obstruction for an animal to move or break. For example, a hunter might tie a taut fishing line between two vertical supports (e.g., trees, poles, etc.) and then vacate the area for a time. Upon his return, discovering a snapped line likely indicates to the hunter that an animal walked through the line during his absence. Tying so called “trip lines,” even without integrated reaction devices of any sort, can be an inexpensive way for a hunter to simultaneously monitor many locations without having to remain physically present at any of them. However, there are a couple obvious drawbacks of resorting to such a tactic.
First of all, in order for an animal to reveal its presence to the returning hunter via this means, the animal must actually travel through the very supports between which the line is strung. Therefore, unless a line is strung so as to be substantially undetectable and unavoidable, there is a significant chance of an animal traveling through the general area without snapping the line, because of its conscious avoidance of the line or just simple happenstance. Secondly, the line could be snapped by a fellow hunter walking through the area or by an animal not of the type sought by the hunter. So, an inconspicuously placed trip line, if broken, could deceive the hunter into believing that his prey visited the area when, in fact, it did not.
Yet another method of gathering hunting intelligence is to mount a surveillance camera in the hunting area. While the hunter is away, the unattended camera can capture photographs of a prey animal that may enter the area. Of course, surveillance cameras, similarly, can be used to photograph unsuspecting humans that may have occasion enter a particular area for one reason or another. For instance, a landowner or property manager might wish to use an unattended camera to conduct surveillance over a land parcel for the purpose of collecting evidence that the land is being trespassed. However, it may be cost prohibitive to deploy multiple cameras in multiple areas and at multiple vantage points.
Thus, it can be appreciated that there exists a need for a new device for collecting foot, hoof or paw prints of an unsuspecting animal or person visiting an area of land, where such print collecting is useful for the purpose of providing, to a hunter or land proprietor, information regarding the presence, species, size and travel patterns of the animal or person. There is also a primary need for such a device to be camouflaged in an outdoor environment so that animals or persons will not consciously avoid stepping onto it and, thereby, avoid leaving their foot, hoof or paw impression thereupon. The inventor is not aware of any impression-recording device that is constructed and designed to allow its user to surreptitiously obtain foot impressions in an outdoor environment.
Secondarily, there exist needs for such a device to be: (1) affordable, so that a hunter or land proprietor, inexpensively, may deploy a multitude of such devices to several spots where they may be stepped upon; and (2) water resistant, so that the integrities of both an impression left upon the device and the device itself are protected from the effects of precipitation. The present invention substantially fulfills these needs.